Senior Danish Politician Mogens Lykketoft meets with Mario Masuku
By Peter Kenworthy, Africa Contact's Swaziland group in Africa Contact -
www.afrika.dk
Foreign Policy spokesman and Former Danish Finance Minister and Foreign
Minister, Mogens Lykketoft, met with People’s United Democratic Movement
(PUDEMO) President Mario Masuku in Johannesburg yesterday, February 17,
to discuss the political situation in Swaziland.
Here Lykketoft expressed his support for democratisation in Swaziland.
“Today Swaziland seems to be at a crossroads with only two
alternatives,” he said. “Either Swaziland continues down its present
path of undemocratic rule, inequality and increasingly unsustainable
financial turmoil, or its masses must bring about a complete change of
system - one that is democratic, participatory and based on the rule of
law and human rights.”
Mogens Lykketoft was supposed to have taken part in an official fact
finding mission to Swaziland where he was to have met with
representatives of the democratic movement in Swaziland, including
representatives from PUDEMO, Swaziland Democracy Campaign, and Swaziland
United Democratic Front (SUDF). He had been invited by Africa Contact, a
Danish NGO and partner-organisation of the SUDF.
Unfortunately, Mogens Lykketoft was not allowed to board the plane that
was to take him from Johannesburg to Swaziland as he was allegedly a few
minutes late. He was further told that the next plane bound for
Swaziland was delayed by several hours.
Maybe the Swazi regime ordered airport staff to deliberately hinder
Lykketoft from entering Swaziland and talking to Mario Masuku, whom the
regime calls as a terrorist, although this is obviously impossible to
prove. As luck would have it, however, Mario Masuku was also booked on
the delayed flight and the two therefore decided to hold the meeting in
the airport.
Amongst other things they discussed the SWADEWA Democracy Prize that
Lykketoft had presented to Mario Masuku in the Danish parliament in
March 2010. Masuku has been unable to attend the presentation then and
Lykketoft’s meeting with Masuku was therefore also an opportunity for
the latter to thank him personally.
Lykketoft said that it had been a great honour for him to meet Masuku
and hear about the dedication for a peaceful, genuine democratic
transformation in Swaziland. “You and your friends and comrades in
PUDEMO have made great sacrifices,” he said, “and you are fighting with
an admirable combination of determination and patience.”
Mogens Lykketoft is a former Tax Minister (1981-82), Finance Minister
(1993-2000) and Foreign Minister (2000-01), former leader of the Danish
Social Democrat Party, and the party’s present Foreign Policy spokesman.
He is also the deputy speaker of the Danish parliament.
Mario Masuku has been PUDEMO’s president from 1986 to 1991 and from 1996
to the present. Masuku has been jailed and charged with treason on
several occasions, although never convicted.
Below is the speech that Lykketoft was to have given in Swaziland, but
instead gave Mario Masuku personally:
Dear Mario Masuku.
Dear friends from PUDEMO,
I am sorry that we did not make it to Swaziland on Thursday because of
problems of transportation.
But I am happy that we had because of the delays I had the opportunity
at least to meet with you, Mario, in person in Johannesburg airport, and
I could express my support the cause of democratization in Swaziland as
symbolized with the SWADEWA Democracy Prize to you.
I hope that the price will give a strong signal of many of us in Denmark
and other European countries to help give the cause for democracy and
human rights observance in Swaziland the attention it deserves.
In Denmark and other Western nations, we sometimes tend to take
democracy for granted. After all, our own country’s transformation from
being an absolute monarchy to becoming a democratic nation formally took
place over 150 years ago - in 1849.
But Denmark was not transformed overnight. It took the pressure of
enduring progressive political parties, a strong civil society and
strong unions several decades to ensure full democratization in Denmark
- and in a sense any society, including the Danish, has to reinvent and
nurture its democracy continuously.
This is why political parties, such as PUDEMO, and unions and civil
society organizations are vital in both achieving and entrenching
democracy. And this is why civil society must not whither away after
formal democratization.
As everyone here is well aware, Swaziland is a peculiar product of the
days of Britain's colonial divide and rule policies.
But the democratic, progressive forces in Swaziland must look to the
future, not to the past. We all know that freedom of speech; observance
of human rights; popular participation and poverty alleviation are
important preconditions for a successful democratic development.
Today Swaziland seems to be at a crossroads with only two alternatives -
either Swaziland continues down its present path of undemocratic rule,
inequality and increasingly unsustainable financial turmoil, or its
masses must bring about a complete change of system - one that is
democratic, participatory and based on the rule of law and human rights.
There is no doubt that the task of the democratic movement in Swaziland
is particularly difficult and challenging. The increasingly desperate
and heavy-handed clampdowns on all political activity confirm this.
But as the recent popular revolts in Egypt and elsewhere in North Africa
and the Middle East also show, democratization under repressive regimes
can happen suddenly if the popular will and leadership is there. And
that it can happen even in spite of all the repressive characteristics
you are so familiar with in Swaziland.: a censored public space,
emergency laws, an apathetic population, economic stagnation and
poverty, official corruption, American subsidies, and high unemployment.
Mario, it has been a great honor for me to meet with you and hear from
you personally your dedication for a peaceful, genuine democratic
transformation in your country. You and your friends and comrades in
PUDEMO have made great sacrifices and you are fighting with an admirable
combination of determination and patience.
The SWADEWA Democracy Prize is as you said yourself not only a symbolic
gesture to honor your long and selfless fight for democracy in
Swaziland. It is a support for your fight and a handshake to all those
who are fighting with you.
Let us hope that the ultimate prize of democracy in Swaziland is one
that you and all Swazi's will be able to achieve in the near future.
-
Med venlig hilsen - Best Regards
Morten Nielsen
Afrika Kontakt
Bliv medlem af Afrika Kontakt.
Se hvordan på www.afrika.dk
Tilmeld dig vores nyhedsbrev på:
[email protected]
===================================================
Morten Nielsen - Information and Campaigns officer
Africa Contact - Denmark
Wesselsgade 4 kld - DK2200 Copenhagen N - Denmark
===================================================
Phone: (+45) 35 35 92 32 (AC) or
Mobil: (+45) 25 39 65 57
www.afrika.dk
===================================================
Den 20-02-2011 15:32, Dominic Tweedie skrev:
Al Jazeera
/_Reports from Al Jazeera_:/
*Protesters retake Bahrain centre*
*20 February 2011*
Thousands of protesters have reoccupied the Pearl Roundabout in the
Bahraini capital, Manama, after troops and riot police retreated from
the symbolic centre of their anti-government uprising.
The cheering protesters carrying Bahraini flags, flowers and signs that
said "Peaceful, peaceful" marched to the traffic circle on Saturday.
They chanted, "We are victorious".
Protesters kissed the ground in joy and took pictures of about 60 police
vehicles leaving the area.
Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, the crown prince, had earlier in the
day ordered the military to withdraw, saying that the police would now
be responsible for enforcing order, the Bahrain News Agency reported…
*From:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201121914336940622.html*
*Djiboutians rally to oust president*
*18 February 2011*
Thousands of demonstrators have rallied in the East African nation of
Djibouti to demand that president Ismail Omar Guelleh resign, the latest
in a series of demonstrations spurred on by political protests across
Africa and the Middle East.
Amid a tight police deployment, the demonstrators gathered at a stadium
on Friday with the intention of staying there until their demands were met.
But the demonstration escalated into clashes after dusk, as authorities
used batons and tear gas against stone-throwing protesters.
*From:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/02/201121816513686216.html*
*Yemen observes 'Friday of Fury'*
*18 February 2011*
Tens of thousands of Yemenis have taken part in anti-government
demonstrations across the country, with pro-government supporters also
rallying in several cities.
At least six people have been killed in the demonstrations with one of
the deaths taking place after a hand grenade was thrown at
anti-government protesters in the city of Taiz on Friday.
Riots also flared overnight in the southern port city of Aden with
protesters setting fire to a local government building and security
forces killing one demonstrator, local officials said. Seventeen people
were also confirmed to have been injured in those clashes.
Protesters across the country are calling for president Ali Abdullah
Saleh to step down after 32 years in power, in a movement that has now
entered its eighth day in Yemen.
*From:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/2011218111854417798.html*
*Algeria protesters push for change*
*12 February 2011*
Algerian security forces and pro-democracy protesters have clashed in
the capital, Algiers, amid demonstrations inspired by the revolution in
Egypt.
Heavily outnumbered by riot police, at least 2,000 protesters were able
to overcome a security cordon enforced around the city's May First
Square on Saturday, joining other demonstrators calling for reform.
Earlier, thousands of police in riot gear were in position to stop the
demonstrations that could mimic the uprising which forced out Hosni
Mubarak, Egypt's long-serving president.
*From:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/02/201121235130627461.html*
*Moroccans riot ahead of protests*
*19 February 2011*
Protesters have attacked a police station and premises linked to French
firms in the Moroccan city of Tangier in a dispute over the local
utility firm's management, organisers and residents have said.
Saturday's violence came a day before a planned nationwide protest to
push for political reform but there was no immediate evidence of a
direct link.
*From:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/02/2011219163145111944.html*
*Jordan protest turns violent*
*18 February 2011*
At least eight people have been injured in clashes that broke out in
Jordan’s capital between government supporters and opponents at a
protest calling for more freedom and lower food prices.
The protest was the seventh straight Friday that Jordanians took to the
streets demanding constitutional reform and more say in decision-making.
Jordan's king enjoys absolute powers, ruling by decree: He can appoint
and dismiss cabinet and parliament whenever at anytime.
*From:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/201121821116689870.html*
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